If you have high arches, you need high arch support. Some of the reasons why people have high arches include first of all that you were born with them, and secondly, you developed them as a result of neurological disorders.
That’s not to say that if you have high arches, you have a neurological disorder. However, if you do have a neurological disorder such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, polio, congenital clubfoot, or Friedreich’s Ataxia, the changes that occur in your feet can cause pain in your feet. That pain may be relieved with high arch support.
A high arch is called pes cavus. In pes cavus, muscles of the foot may weaken and become imbalanced. There can be a progression of the condition to involve malformation of the bones, and also the plantar fascia on the bottom of the foot could contract. Another thing that can occur is that the Achilles tendon could shorten. All these can contribute to foot fatigue and foot pain.
Studies show that about 10% of the population has pes cavus. Specifically, pes cavus is a very high medial longitudinal arch of the foot.
By adding a high arch support in your shoe, you can relieve the compression that occurs on the metatarsals (the ball of the foot), pain or fatigue that results because of plantar fasciitis, arthritis of the ankle or from inflammation of the Achilles tendon.
And because pain in the foot from pes cavus can lead to knee pain or back pain, this is another reason why doing whatever you can do (adding a high arch support to your shoes) could prevent further problems. A foot that has muscles that are imbalanced and bones that are out of alignment is a foot that is fatigued, painful and liable to lead to other types of pain and foot conditions.
Having pes cavus doesn’t mean you’ll have severe pain. But using a high arch support is something that all podiatrists recommend for those with pes cavus, and especially those with neurological disorders.